Amazon announced that it is deploying artificial intelligence to help customers determine whether messages they receive claiming to be from Amazon are authentic. Customers can now ask the company’s consumer AI service, Alexa for Shopping, to check a suspicious message.
What the system does and why it matters
According to Amazon, roughly 360,000 customers a year contact its customer service asking whether a message is real. Amazon says the AI can “definitively” confirm whether a communication originated from its systems by comparing it to the billions of messages the company has sent globally.
The AI evaluates sender information, message content, timing, metadata and other signals to assess authenticity. Amazon added that the system will improve over time as customers report more suspicious messages, allowing it to detect scams more effectively in the future.
Complementary tools
This new capability builds on earlier anti-scam efforts. Earlier this year Amazon introduced the email address verify@amazon.com, which allows anyone to forward suspicious messages to the company and receive a reply confirming whether the email was genuine or a scam. An online form on Amazon’s customer service site provides the same assistance.
Alexa’s evolving role
The enhancement is part of a broader shift in Amazon’s strategy for Alexa toward shopping-related and proactive assistance. Alexa for Shopping already helps find personalized deals, create shopping guides, reorder everyday items, provide AI-generated product overviews, and transcribe handwritten shopping lists, among other features.
On Tuesday Amazon also added an Alexa feature that lets customers set alerts for new or relevant events, such as a favorite brand launching a product, a new book from a preferred author, or an artist releasing a new record.
Availability
Alexa for Shopping is available via the Amazon website and the Amazon mobile app. Amazon frames the feature as a way to make it easier and faster for customers to determine whether a message truly came from Amazon.
